Sintered silver-cadmium oxide contact members are useful for high electrical current applications. Difficulties experienced in attaining densification during sintering are attributable to the morphology associated with such sintered materials where pores and cadmium oxide particles are present in the silver grain boundaries. Because of the dissociation of cadmium oxide during sintering and the insolubility of cadmium oxide in the silver matrix, the maximum density of silver-cadmium oxide contacts obtained as-sintered is typically less than the theoretical density.
Such silver-cadmium oxide contact members are prepared by pressing a mixture of silver and cadmium oxide powders into a compact, and then sintering this compact by heating the pressed compact to a temperature of about 900.degree. C. and holding the compact at about that temperature for about one hour. The compact normally does not fully densify during the sintering process. In order to achieve a fully dense silver-cadmium oxide product, the sintered product must be further compacted by cold working, as by rolling and repressing. During these cold working processes crack initiation can occur thus resulting in an inferior material that has a less than optimum ductility and a lower than optimum fracture strength. Although a fully dense product usually can be obtained through such mechanical working, the total silver to silver metallurgical bond remains little increased, thus resulting in inferior arc-erosion resistance. It would, accordingly, be desirable to have a sintering process which is not subject to the aforementioned disadvantages. That is, it would be desirable to have a sintering process which yields a product having "full density".